A sole kitchen chair
by MyLittleFangirlWorld
Summary: Akaashi had been over at Bokuto's lively house pretty many times by his second year of high school. He'd met all of the siblings and talked repeatedly with the parents. Bokuto had never done the same though, and he was about to find out why. / A small story of Akaashi's background (Bokuaka)!


"So's any of your family at home?" Bokuto asked cheerily as they walked past yet another corner.

"No," was Akaashi's short answer before pointing vaguely down the street. "It's the grey building."

The older teen nodded excitedly, his gaze finding it quickly. The façade looked pretty worn down even from a distance, then again this wasn't the prettiest neighbourhood of the city. From what Bokuto knew it was mostly crowded with many small apartments and rentable offices.

Minutes later, they were making their way up plenty of stairs. There was a few budget looking paintings along the walls of the living complex, and a big plant at the entrance to make the place homier or such. He could hear someone listening to the radio in one apartment they passed, and a small child laughing in another.

Neither of them said something on their way up. Akaashi was in general a pretty quiet person, but Bokuto was pretty sure he'd been more quiet than usual the past few days, ever since he finally managed to convince the ravenette that they should hang out at his place the next time. Bokuto didn't mind being at his own family's house at all, it was just that he wanted to know how his friend lived too. They'd been spending time together for nearly two years after all, so it was about time. Bokuto was excited to know more about the other, but Akaashi seemed pretty nervous of it for some reason. At least nervous was what Bokuto guessed, he wasn't always the best at reading peoples feelings and his friend could often be very good at hiding them. After much time spent together he'd gotten much better at noticing the small signs though, such as that Akaashi had played a lot with his fingers lately, a habit he had when he was nervous or jumpy.

They finally stopped at a white door that looked just like the other ones they'd passed. Bokuto noticed with glee that Akaashi's keys had that small golden owl that he'd bought him once as a small "thanks for tossing to me present", attached to it. He didn't have time to comment on it though as the secret world of Akaashi's home was suddenly opened up for him.

Bokuto took a step forward to look around with a cheery "hey hey hey!", and the first thing that flew to his mind was that this place was very small. Like, really, really small. And honestly, he would have guessed that Akaashi was one of those people who had everything in perfect order without a single stray of dust anywhere. Though it wasn't exactly messy (not nearly the dump Bokuto had managed to fix for himself in his own room) it wasn't perfection either with a plate and a glass at the sink, a jacket over a sole kitchen chair and… Wait. Why was there only one chair?

Bokuto turned a lap around to study the entirety of the apartment. There was only one door that wasn't leading out, and he guessed that must be the bathroom. A made bed stood at the corner of the room, a non-closed drape excluding it from the kitchen and eat area. There was a lot of beautiful photos covering the cement walls (Bokuto even noticed himself in a few, though most didn't include people) and the bed was filled with blankets and warm-coloured pillowls. An unlit candle stood on the table and he could imagine the cosy glow of a red wall lamp.

All in all, it looked pretty nice and homey, but there was definitely something that gave this place a feeling of loneliness.

"You live by yourself," Bokuto stated in an uncharacteristic monotone. He could vaguely make out Akaashi playing with his hands behind him.

"I do," was the shortcut answer, with no explanation whatsoever.

"You've never told me that, hey we could have had such awesome sleepovers, parents free you know!" Bokuto tried to joke to grasp the situation that frankly took him much of guard.

Akaashi didn't respond to his try for humour though, hanging his school bag up on a hook. "I'm sorry for that."

"No, no, it's okay!" Bokuto said as he picked up a grin, turning around another lap. "But… Um, why?" That was a concept he couldn't really grasp. Akaashi wasn't even seventeen yet, how could it be that he lived all by himself? Maybe his parents worked abroad, or maybe he didn't like them. But that couldn't be the case, Akaashi had talked about his parents before when Bokuto had curiously asked. Had explained how kind and caring his father was, how his mom was really hyper and overly eager to learn the art of sushi.

Akaashi never spoke bad of them, neither did he mention them on his own accord. Bokuto had never really noticed that before but that was indeed the case. So why wouldn't he live with them then? How did he even afford this place by himself? Bokuto knew that the setter worked extra at the weekends, but still it was expensive to live in Tokyo. Maybe he'd inherited it somehow? Or maybe it was just temporary or something.

Bokuto hadn't realised that he'd been lost in his thoughts until it had been quiet for a pretty long while.

Finally, he couldn't stand not knowing, so he tilted his head and asked, "So why don't you live with your parents? Did you have a fight or something?"

Akaashi's turquoise eyes finally met his again, and when they did Bokuto somehow knew. A quiet and solemn "Oh," of horrible realisation slipped past his parted lips. They stared at each other in silence for a few seconds.

"I'm so sorry, I-… I had no idea," He said with regret, feeling the strong urge to embrace the other but refraining from it.

"It's okay, Bokuto-san. You couldn't have, I never tell people about it." Akaashi pulled his sweater closer to himself and Bokuto dragged a hand across his face as he took it in. Suddenly a thought hit him though, and once more his mouth reacted before his brain had evaluated it properly.

"But you said just last week when I asked to hang out, you couldn't because you were going to visit your mother?" Bokuto asked as the thought crossed his mind, trying not to sound the tiniest bit accusing even though that kind of hurt. Akaashi never lied, especially not to him.

"I did though," his friend answered as he took a step forward to fold that abandoned jacket and hung it up over his bag. He had a suspicion it was to avoid eye locks for a few seconds. "It was her birthday."

It took a second for Bokuto to understand how he meant it, and when he did he lowered his head in shame. That had probably been really insensitive and stupid of him. "Sorry."

"It's fine Bokuto-san," Akaashi answered and finally turned towards him again. "It-… It was a couple of years ago, so it's okay, really."

 _Years_? For just how long had Akaashi lived all by himself? "You absolutely don't have to tell me if you don't want to but… What happened to them?"

Bokuto was immediately worried that he shouldn't have asked that question because Akaashi's eyes suddenly looked different, as if he was looking at a memory and not at the one he was talking too.

"Suicide bomber," was the quiet answer and Bokuto couldn't help the gasp that escaped him. "I was twelve. We were only meters beside the woman. My mom didn't jump for cover, she covered me. I woke up at the hospital a few days later just to hear that she'd died at the scene. My dad just a few hours prior from internal bleeding in his brain. I didn't even get a chance to-" Akaashi suddenly cut himself of, suddenly nearly panicked eyes darted to Bokutos'. There was a few seconds of silence before the ravenette mumbled out a muffled "I'm sorry," from behind a thin hand.

Bokuto didn't even answer. Instead he took two steps forward in the small space to tightly wrap his strong arms around the other. The shorter boy immediately tensed up, as he always did when someone went inside his personal space. Bokuto didn't back away though, he had a strong feeling that it was a long time ago the boy had actually received a real and caring hug. Placing his chin on top of Akaashi's hair he turned aware of the onslaught of shimmers in his golden eyes. He'd always been weak for sad stories in movies and such, but this was his Keiji. How could it have been that they'd known each other for nearly two full years, and he hadn't had a clue? Did that make him a really bad friend?

A flash of his own parents showed up in his mind and suddenly he felt strangely guilty. How many times hadn't he told stories of what he and his family did, how much he loved his little sister or all the times he complained about the usual teenage-parent drama. Something Akaashi had never even experienced.

"I'm so, so sorry Keiji," he murmured into the others hair.

He didn't receive an answer, but moments later he felt Akaashi relax completely in his hold, arms wrapping around his back as he was tightly hugged back.

xXx

An hour or so later, they were half lying against each other on the top of Akaashi's bed. Bokuto had sat them down without letting go of the hug, and he'd been pleasantly surprised when Akaashi hadn't complained in the slightest. They'd barely exchanged words in that time, but the silence was comfortable with them both lost in thoughts. There were one in particular that Bokuto had pondered back and forth weather he should ask or not. He didn't want to risk upsetting the other or anything, but finally he just felt like he had to ask.

"…Your scars," He asked, hoping he wasn't crossing too many lines of things Akaashi didn't want to talk about. "They're from that day, aren't they?"

The setter had always went around it when someone asked about them, the white linings and uneven skin around his left ear, barely visible against his paleness or the dark curls covering them away. Bokuto knew they went over his arm as well, maybe back too. He couldn't comprehend that they may have actually come from a _bomb_.

"Yes," was the short answer.

"And that's why you can't hear correctly."

Akaashi shot up to stare at him in shock. "You knew?"

"Why do you think people always complain about my loudness?" Bokuto confirmed fondly, tugging Akaashi back in a half lying position beside him. "You mostly look at peoples' lips when they talk, and often miss it when someone's calling you, or a flying ball comes for that matter. Sugawara's got a deaf little sister, so he's figured it out as well, but that's probably it."

"And here I thought no one knew," Akaashi mumbled mostly to himself. "But I'm not deaf. It's around 15 percent right now."

"Right now?" Bokuto asked with his concern jumping once more.

"It's lowering with the years. One drum was blown up and the other too badly damaged. I'm trying to learn to read lips properly before it disappears completely."

"Oh," Bokuto mumbled sadly, realizing that Akaashi probably didn't hear that anyway. 15 percent and lowering… He knew it was bad, but not that awfully low. He was generally a loud person, but he always made sure to speak up extra when he was around his setter. Especially in moments like this when he understood his friend couldn't read his lips from their lying position.

"…You don't…" Akaashi started before taking a breath to gather up his words. "You don't see me any differently now, right?" There was worry in his voice, worry that Bokuto wouldn't accept him, or take pity. Well, he couldn't say he didn't feel bad for Akaashi. He did, and he was ashamed of himself. But he would never, ever, think less of his setter over something like this, and it didn't change his view at all.

"Hey, of course not!" he therefor reassured firmly, "Never." They lapsed into a short silence once more, but it wasn't loaded as part of the other ones had been, more comfortable. "But you know…"

He could feel Akaashi tense up the slightest underneath his arm as yet more uncharacteristic seriousness escaped Bokuto. He squeezed the others shoulder though in a try to calm him again, and it seemed to work okay so he continued. "If you ever need to talk to someone about it, or if you feel lonely, then you know I'm always here for you, right?"

"…Yes. Thank you, Bokuto-san."

 **A/N: If anyone wants some extra information on the story:**

 **Akaashi lived in a foster home for a while, a family that was supposed to get him on his feet after the accident. He lived there for two years until he got placed in a socials-provided apartment (and by then he was fourteen). They still come and check up on him regularly, and he has to go to the psychologist once every week. He didn't want to tell people about his situation partly because that could make him a target for bullying, he didn't want anyone to think of him differently and he doesn't like bringing up the sore subject when it can be avoided because it's still really though on him. Finally though, he felt that Bokuto had since day one shared everything with him, and he couldn't hide his backstory forever. They are kind of on the verge of starting to date (they both know they like each other, so it's like continuously subtle touches and flirting) so he didn't want to keep any secrets. When Bokuto graduates they buy a shared apartment in town, and they live happily ever after, ta-da 3**

 **Okay, huge thanks for reading, love you guys! I wish you a great day,**

 **\- Hugs MJ**


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